Feeding device



E. R. DRAVEH.

FEEDING DEVICE.. APPLICATION man ocr.12.192i.

Patental Dec. 20, 192i.,

lAfOm E. R. DRAVER.

FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED ocr. I2. 192|.

Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

2 SH['EI'S--Sl'lEEl 2.

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an ern- FEEDXNG- DEWGE.

tpeccation of Etetters Patent. Pwbamf@ @@@ia @11% .application filed october is, 1923i.. serial tte,

T0 all? 'whom t may concern Be it known that l, lili/nr. R. Dnavnna citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Wayne and State of indiana, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Feeding Devices; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a feeding device, and particularly to such a device adapted to feed ground or co'mminuted material, such as flour, ground grain and various feed materials.

lt is an object of this invention to provide such a feeder comprising a' plurality of rotatable feeding devices mounted, side by side, and having stationary partitions therebetween.

This and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in which--l Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the feeding device;

Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the same;

Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation of the device, a portion being broken away to show the interior thereof; and

Fig. 4 is a partial vertical section showing two of the feeders with the partition therebetween.

Referring to the drawings, the device comprises a casing member 1 having an upwardly curved front wall 1a arranged to form a hopper to contain the stock to be fed, and a downwardly curved rear wall 1b. forming one side of the vdischarge passage for the bed material. 'lhe casing is also provided with vertical end walls and a shaft 2 extends transversely therethrough, being mounted in suitable bearings on said walls. Mounted on the shaft 2 are a plurality of feeding devices 3 shown as comprising hub members provided with radiating vanes 3a forming a paddle wheel. The end members 3 are provided adjacent to the end walls of the casing, with circular webs 3b and thin plate members 4 are loosely mounted on the shaft 2 between adjacent feeding devices 3. rl`hese plates are of the general rectangular shape shown in Fig. 2 having their lower corner on the discharge side beveled or cut away, and, as will be readily seen, 'are so disposed that the Ymajor portion of their area is located on the discharge side .of the feeding devices. A. rod 5 carrying a sleeve thereon traverses the casing 1 between the end walls thereof and the plates d are provided with notches da arranged to engage with said sleeve to hold, the plates in stationary position duringthe rotation of the feeding devices 3 which are fixedly :secured to shaft 2 to rotate therewith by mans of suitable set screws shown in Fig. d; A

The shaft i is arranged to be rotated' and for this purpose, .is provided outside of the' casing with a ratchet wheel 6 which is engaged at opposite sides by pawls carried on dogs 7 mounted on arms 8 extending in opposite directionsacross the ratchet-wheel 7 and mounted upon the end of the shaft 2. The arms8 are pivotally. connected by links 9 to a blockklO, which block is slidable upon a crank arm 11 mounted to swing on a shaft mounted in bearings 1c extending' from casimg l.. The block 10 is adjusted tol various positions along the crank 11 by means of a screw 12 to vary the stroke ofthe member- 9. The crank member 11 is oscillated by means of a link 13 connected to a crank member 14; which is, in turn, attached to a crank member 14 which is rigidly attached to a counter shaft 15 supported in suitable bearings on the casing 1l and provided with;`

a pulley member 16. By this structure it will be seen that rotation of the shaft l5 will oscillate the crank 1'1 and the ratchetv wheel 6 and shaft 2 will be intermittently rotated by the pawl dog members 7.

A plurality of feeding means are often used, side by side, and in this case, the shaft 15 is placed by a rock shaft extending to all of the feeders, which rock shaft is connected by the links 13 to the crank arms 11.

The front4 wall 1a of the casing extends downwardly under the feeding devices 3 and is supported upon the .rod 17, extending transversely through the casing and the lower end of said wall terminates in a downwardly projecting portion, the upper end of said wall being supported on a transverse rod 18, also supported in the casing. Avertical wall 19 extends downwardly from the lower side oli the wall 1i and forms one side of the discharge passage. A swinging valve 20 is shown pivoted at its lower end to a stationary member in the discharge passage and adapted to swing so that'its upper end comes into engagement with the end of the front wall 1a or with the rear Wall 1b to direct the material to one side or the other of said discharge passage. The shaft upon which the valve 20 is mounted extends through one end wall of the casing and is equipped with an operating arm 21 connected by a link 22 to an operating lever 23 by which the said valve can be conveniently controlled.

In operation, the shaft 2 is rotated so that the members 3 rotate as indicated 'by the arrows in F ig. 2 and the material is carried by the paddle wheels and evenly fed and dlstributed into the discharge passage. stationary partitions 4 function to divide the stream of material being fed -and greatly assist in the even distribution of the same. These disks also prevent any clogging of the material between the vanes of the adjacent paddle wheels.

The general features of the feed device herein disclosed are similar to those disclosed in my co-pending application, S. N. 235,339, filed May 18th, 1918. The novelty in the present ap-plication resides in the provision, arrangement and structure of the partitions 4 in combination` with the feeding devices 3. While one form of these devices has been illustrated it will be understood that various changes may be made in the ar rangement, structure and purposes of the same without departing from the scope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consists in the matter shown and described and set forth in the appended claims.

The

What is claimed is:

1. A feeding device having in combination a casing, a shaft extending therethrough, a plurality of paddle wheels mounted in alinemcnt on said shaft, and stationary plates supported on s'aid shaft between adjacent wheels. 2. A device of the class described comprising a casing, a shaft having a plurality of rotatable feeding devices mounted thereon, and stationary plates freely mounted on said shaft disposed between adjacent ones of said feeding devices.

3. The structure set forth in claim 2, said plates being of the general rectangular shape.

4. The structure set forth in claim 2, said plates being of general rectangular shape and dlsposed with their major portion at the dlscharge side of said feeding devices.

5. A feeding device having in combination a casing, a shaft therein, a plurality of rotatable feeding devices mounted on said shaft, thin -stationary partitions disposed between the adjacent feeding devices, said partitions being mounted on said shaft and having a slot formed in one edge thereof and a .member extending through said casing with which said slots engage to hold said partitlons in stationary position.

6. Ihe lstructure set forth in claim 2, said plates belng of general rectangular shape having their lower corner on the discharge side beveled.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EMIL R. DRAVER. 

